John McCain, R-Ariz.
Will “Primary Colors” author score another win?
Joe Klein's new roman ` clef will be a tough sell.
With the Jan. 20 announcement of his forthcoming novel, “The Running Mate,” veteran political journalist Joe Klein (“Primary Colors”) once again has everyone guessing. But this time America won’t be wondering who wrote his book. Instead, the question is: When “The Running Mate” appears on April 18, will the author formerly known as Anonymous pull off a sophomore success?
Since Klein’s 1996 bestseller was a roman ` clef — one that purportedly offered an intimate insider’s take on Gov. Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign — one would expect him to deliver yet another thinly veiled tale of true-life political shenanigans. After all, Klein vowed in 1996 that he would give the Republicans an equally hard time on the next go ’round. Dial Press, Klein’s publisher, sent out a press release to announce “The Running Mate,” but its description of the book didn’t offer much:
This time, the novel is about Senator Charlie Martin, a Vietnam War hero and hot political property. Facing an election year in this era of spin, marketing and vicious personal assaults, Martin is forced to confront the two biggest challenges of his life: a charismatic political opponent who has no scruples, and a dazzling, difficult woman who loves him, but is appalled by his life’s work.
Already the speculation has begun about the real identity of Klein’s fictional senator. No one’s saying which party Charlie Martin hails from, but we can make a few nonpartisan guesses about the character’s real-world counterpart: John McCain of Arizona, recently retired Bob Kerrey of Nebraska or John Kerry of Massachusetts — decorated Vietnam veterans all. Though several columnists have guessed that it was McCain who inspired Klein’s opus (Klein is covering the McCain campaign for the New Yorker), insiders familiar with the book say that’s news to them.
A more crucial question for Klein’s publisher is this: Can any of these men — including McCain — when converted into a fictional character, pique the interest of as many book buyers as Jack Stanton, Klein’s cipher for President Bill Clinton, did? After all, the 1991 vintage of Bill Clinton, even when savored in 1996, was far more complex than McCain, Kerry or Kerrey — and none of them seem likely to win the highest office in the land this fall.
When Random House signed up Klein’s “Primary Colors” before Clinton’s 1996 reelection, they were taking a decided risk. If the Comeback Kid had lost his second bid for the office of president, the book most likely would have tanked.
But today, Dial Press might well look back on Random House’s gamble as child’s play. In the flush of the success of “Primary Colors” the publisher forked over more than a million dollars for Klein’s next two books. It doesn’t require a pollster to foresee that it will take a book with buckets worth of insider intrigue to pay off such a generous advance. In fact, Random House decided to pass on the deal, considering it overpriced.
If Klein’s Sen. Martin indeed turns out to be an amalgam of several different politicians, then his creator has his work cut out for him. However crafty and compelling Klein’s book, if it can’t promise readers a barely disguised feast of insider dish on the nation’s chief executive, how will it distinguish itself from the work of esteemed but decidedly nonblockbuster Washington novelists like Ward Just? We won’t know for a few months, but so far only the advance looks different.
Craig Offman is the New York correspondent for Salon Books. More Craig Offman.
Will “Joe the Plumber” run for Congress?
And if so, how many minutes will it take for him to say something embarrassing to a reporter? Ten?
“Joe the Plumber,” a man named Sam who is not a plumber, may run for Congress. Joe, a briefly famous desperate attempt by the John McCain campaign to paint Barack Obama as an enemy of the working man, is mulling a run against Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who’s been in the House since 1983. Joe told Yahoo’s “The Ticket” his thoughts on the potential campaign:
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
Whoops, no one told the right that their Libya talking point doesn’t work anymore
President Obama is far to weak to have accomplished what just actually happened in Tripoli
It’s obviously premature to celebrate “victory” in Libya when no one knows what will happen next, or how difficult and bloody the process of state-building will be. (And Gadhafi is not yet actually gone.) But the news is good, and Obama’s strategic approach to the conflict — allowing France and NATO to take the lead to minimize the chance that America was seen as leading another Iraq-style war of aggression — seems to have been the right one. (Strategically. Not necessarily legally.) As Steve Kornacki wrote this morning, this should be the end of the “Obama is too weak to lead” talking point from the right. It should be, but … it isn’t.
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
McCain: Afghan drawdown ‘unnecessary risk’
John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham express concern about withdrawal plans
U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz, speaks with other U.S. Senators Joe Lieberman, I-Conn, and Lindsay Graham, R-SC, unseen, during a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan Sunday, July 3, 2011. Three U.S. Senators visiting Kabul on Sunday say they worry that President Barack Obama's planned withdrawal of 33,000 American troops by September 2012 could undermine Afghan morale, embolden the insurgency, and hamper efforts to defeat Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)(Credit: AP) Three U.S. senators visiting Kabul said Sunday they are worried that President Barack Obama’s planned withdrawal of 33,000 American troops by September 2012 could undermine Afghan morale, embolden the insurgency and hamper efforts to defeat Taliban fighters.
John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham said they are heartened by the progress of Afghan security forces, but worry that Obama’s withdrawal plan could deplete American military strength before dealing a decisive blow to the Taliban, especially in eastern Afghanistan. That part of the country is a haven for the Afghan and Pakistani wings of the Taliban, and al-Qaida affiliates.
Continue Reading ClosePuppet John McCain returns to “The Daily Show”
Jon Stewart grills the senator's cloth doppelganger about illegal immigrants' responsibility for wildfires
Sen. John McCain made some controversial claims over the weekend about illegal immigrants’ responsibility for border-region wildfires. “[W]e are concerned particularly about areas down on the border where there is substantial evidence that some of these fires are caused by people who have crossed our border illegally,” McCain said at a news conference, suggesting that “the answer to that part of the problem” was to “get a secure border.” (The senator has since denied that he was referring specifically to Arizona’s devastating Wallow fire with his remarks.)
Emma Mustich is a Salon contributor. Follow her on Twitter: @emustich. More Emma Mustich.
What other American problems can we blame on immigrants?
Why stop with wildfires?
Sen John McCain. Right: The Monument Fire burns a hillside just south of Sierra Vista, Ariz. on Sunday, June 19, 2011. John McCain said last Sunday that there is “substantial evidence” that illegal immigrants started “some of” the wildfires consuming hundreds of thousands of acres of land in the American Southwest. While “officials” and “people who know what they’re talking about” have not produced or even claimed to have any evidence that illegal immigrants specifically were responsible for starting any of the fires that have burned across Arizona this month, that has not stopped certain brave commentators from speaking truth to the massive political power that is Big Mexican Arson.
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Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
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